Innocence
by Miko-chan
Summary: She was like an angel of autumn , as she stood in front of a nameless grave--A One-shot fic [Entry to Inked contest]


**Innocence**  
by Miko-chan  
**Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: **All of these characters are borrowed from Takei-san. Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

  
The night was empty, no bright jewels adorned its horizons as the looming dark clouds lurked.  
  
"Pathetic fools." A growling voice was heard. "They could have given you up and manage to live."  
  
"You are a monster..."shrieked by a woman that had spoken through the engrossed murmurings of the crowd.   
  
She was like an angel of autumn , as she stood in front of a nameless grave. Her vacant-filled eyes carried such tremendous fear in everyone, which increases the pain of bringing the amounting hatred in their thoughts. The scattered auburn and mandarin leaves had scattered throughout the rigid patches of the ground. Yet it did not alarm her that she was surrounded with a swarming mob who were either carrying torches or long beating sticks. It was a barricade of faces written with disgust.   
  
Everyone had feared and hated the young child, that was the gossip that had spread the town wildly. A girl who can see spirits and has venomous tantrums that nobody could control, except for her parents who were treated as an outcast for they tried to shield the jinx from their clutches. Nevertheless they failed, as you can now see the freshly-dug mound of earth.   
  
She is such a magnificent creature, from the way of the tiny flaxen strands had curving along her beatific visage and the dark, mesmerizing onyx orbs that drowns you slowly. However, it was quite horrifying to see the trail of blood trickling at her forehead, staining the creamy kimono that was clearly frayed.  
  
The terrified crowd drew nearer with their weapons, as they saw her stepping back as if to escape. It was just until now that she realized her current situation. Her facade was impassive, deafening herself from the repetitive phrase that she was now hearing...  
  
_Die._  
  
"What are we waiting for? Kill her!"  
  
She did not run to cover herself from their fury.   
  
Welcoming death was such a pleasing state for her.   
  
But it did not pay its visit, when a scream had pierced the silence. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air, apprehending everyone into panic. Beyond the trees behind her emerged a young boy, with elongated velvety mahogany tresses and a mischievous smirk. He was bare-chested, only his dark auburn trousers had only sheltered him from the cold breezes. As he twisted his sardonic smile, the people were suddenly consumed by a sudden burst of flames. The young girl was astonished at its display, as the blazes had almost reached the dark blue horizon. She was mostly enthralled by the huge being that was nearly undistinguishable in the night, as it glowed with an amber like brilliance.   
  
"Humans." The boy spoke with a bored face. "Worthless insects."  
  
The roaring flames did not hazed him, unlike the midget who was too staggered to even speak.  
  
"So, you are the one which the rumors tell that you are worthy enough to be eaten by my spirit..." He looked at her critically, eyes exhibiting interest. The flames began to flicker away gradually, diminishing the radiance that alighting both visage. He did not knew back then how to treat a young girl as her, so he started with his known courtesy. "Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be running?"  
  
"I have no home to run, brat." She stated, her low-spoken voice bitterly cold. "Like you."   
  
He was slightly surprised at her strange reply. "You are quite good, chibi."  
  
"Chibi?" She inquired, her voice too threatening to come from a girl. "Who do you think you are?"   
  
"You might be too young to understand who I am." He shook his head in silent laughter, his hair slightly swaying from the movement. It was somehow very amusing to have a conversation in this manner, especially to an eight-year old child who was having the capability of hearing thoughts of men. "Besides, I'm more bigger than you, ne?"   
  
When she scowled, her face was oddly endearing.   
  
"I know that, only for a few inches" She chided frostily, glaring at him. "But I'm stronger than you."  
  
He could laugh all evening with such a delusion. "What makes you sure about tha..."  
  
There was a slap that echoed in the vast myriad of trees.  
  
He was totally off-guard, his small reddening cheek was swollen by the impact of her raised right hand.  
  
She mimicked his earlier posture, which was crossing her arms to her chest and a thin brow lifted irritatingly with the barest hint of satisfaction.   
  
No one -ever- dared to cross his patience.   
  
He was fuming, abruptly amounting the anger inside of him. The Fire Spirit materialized suddenly behind him, flaring with such blaze. His eyes glimmered in anger, as his maddening face was emblazing all over his aura. He was capable of murdering million of people in just a flick of his hand, why would such an ingrate child stop him?  
  
He did not knew back then how did it all started, but he realized that he must never lock their gazes...  
  
....or else he will be defeated.  
  
The stare she gave her was neither resentment nor trepidation. It was more like monotony...  
  
Then something inside him had collapsed. "Are you not scared?"   
  
"Should I be?" She quizzically asked, her voice a little bit dry.  
  
"Yes." He wearily replied.  
  
There was a few minutes of elongating silence.  
  
"Do you want me to slap you again?"  
  
"Believe me, chibi. You will never lay your hands on me again."  
  
"Then don't be such a loser...." She glared at him in irritation.   
  
With a swift turn of her heel, she walked slowly towards another direction.  
  
But as soon as the second she lifted her feet to go, she bumped into a stiff, hard chest.   
  
She met his furrowed brows and roguish smirk.  
  
"You are NOT going anywhere, chibi."   
  
"Would you MIND stop calling me in that name? I have a name you know... " Then she paused, raising another squirm. "And why should I not go anywhere I want?"  
  
He nearly swore when he felt that he was already gritting his teeth.  
  
How can this girl relieve him such wrath?  
  
"Because you are going with ME."   
  
He nearly missed the startled expression upon the young child as he took her forcibly.  
** ~**

They were walking along the winded path without any direction to head for since dawn. Yet honestly, it was little bit unnerving when he saw the child uncomplaining to the slow paced walk, who was not really included to this journey. Her tiny, bare feet were already rigid, adding to the fact that she was still wearing the battered kimono, still filthy of mud and imprints of blood.   
  
In another words, it irked him to look at her with such circumstances.   
  
He could not elaborate upon it, but he knew it did.  
  
"Chibi." He called out, breaking the slow rhythm of the paces.   
  
She gazed at him with an aggravated glare.   
  
Strangely, he found out that pestering her was so enjoyable...  
  
"We are going for awhile to a nearby town."  
  
She did not respond, only nodding her head ambiguously in accord.  
  
However, there was a pallid-tint upon her facade that went unnoticed.  
  
As shortly they had arrived at the small patch of village at the end of the forest, he had understood why.  
  
The people were giving the incredulous glares as they had entered the said place. They goggled at his companion, who deliberately trying her best to ignore them. But from the rush of bated whispers in his mind and her having the same ability to do so. He could only have a glimpse of her face, whitening in anger and pain. They despise her, more so to the fact that this was the community that she had belonged to--or rather, disowned--. From the way her eyes had swerved to each obscured face, he can already decipher their hands still covered with bloodied hands in eradicating her parents. Her firm clenching of her fist was enough to show her effort in controlling herself, which was quite a feat. Compared to him since he was already having trouble with their deafening thoughts...  
  
The only motive of her discrimination was because she was too unusual, having such immense potentials.   
  
How much he had desired to extinguish the whole human race, for their arrogance and sickening pride for their so-called prowess were already stepping upon the borderline. For they will always try to destroy whom they thought were more powerful than them, dragging them lower than any animal could be existing on this planet...  
  
The alarming scowls upon their faces had prompted for him to do something.  
  
"Chibi" he spoke slowly, as they have stepped upon another graveled path. The homes were shutting their windows with a loud snap, and the glares of the few mob were not as friendly you would expect when two children are treading in front of you. "It will be better if you wait for me at the woods..."  
  
Her face creased in perplexity, yet when she had sensed the somber tenseness, she obliged and turned towards the nearby patches of trees over the area.   
  
The people were aroused in fury as the chance to finally eliminate the evil was escaping. With their rampaging feet and raised clubs, they swiftly sprinted to her destination. They were abruptly stopped when the shadowed visage of the young boy was somehow petrifying...  
  
"Get out of our way, you squirt!" A wooden plank was about to hit him when his sardonic smile twisted sinisterly.  
  
The wood broke into half, as it had strike upon his skull.  
  
With widened terrified eyes, they started to fled.  
  
Ah...but they will pay. After all, they did managed to mess with his hair.   
~  
  
She was gazing from the rear of a huge trunk of an ancient stump from the myriad maze of trees. She can hardly gaze at the sky, from the way the thick branches seems to stretch out in different routes. The horizon was blending with the afternoon hues, creating languid patterns of clouds. His instruction of staying here was very hard to comply in the very beginning, yet she had lost her energy to argue with him. The overcrowding notions of people, along their scorn towards her was consuming her rapidly, defoliating her essences so swiftly. It was a cursed gift, to know everyone's thoughts and painful to know them. It taught her to shield herself from the harsh cruelties in the world she revolves in. Yet when she was walking side by side with the youthful stranger, she could not help but notice that her skill was slightly beneficial. He was so unreadable, that she was keeping her composure in check before undermining him. It was not easy to talk with an unfamiliar individual that could not be comprehended, adding the fact that he was truly getting to her nerves...  
  
Unable to content herself in sitting in a stump of wood, she dashed back towards the town without thinking about the consequences if the crowd would see her again.   
  
Virtually approaching the edge of the foliage, she took dainty steps to step upon the enormous roots of the aging birch trees. Cautiously maintaining her balance so not to have a nasty fall towards the ground, she took a stolen glance in the supposed overview of the village.  
  
With her dark orbs, she witnessed something that was making her hairs behind her back rose.  
  
A great huge fire smothered the whole village.  
  
She took a sharp, deep breath.   
  
"Chibi"  
  
Practically startled, she lost her footing.   
  
The hands that were holding to stay upon her ground jolted, her foot tripping upon another stray root. She prepared herself to the brutal collision when two arms beyond her rear grabbed her shoulders, nearly falling to the nearby cliff on the other edge.   
  
"You such a trouble." He exasperatedly said. He was now wearing a cream-colored robe and a silly grin upon his face that she wanted badly to punch. Her gaze followed the huge gap of the land that she will take if she ever fall from that precipice.  
  
"It's your fault!" She shot back, annoyed. "You surprised me."  
  
"Gomen, chibi" He responded dismissively as he pulled her towards a safer distance. Then he firmly reprimanded her with a scrutinizing stare. There was unease engraved upon his features, which was not an expression that he would ever exhibit to anyone else. "Did not I told you to stay there?"   
  
"You made me wait."   
  
He sighed. He was getting tired of doing this lately. "You should have known better."   
  
"Why did you killed them?"  
  
He blinked, then responded with a smile feigning casualty and lightness.   
  
"They are weak." He spoke, his childish young voice softly brushing the breeze. "Weak creatures like them never deserved to live."  
  
"And?"  
  
"They only add up problems to the world." He ended it with his chin pointing over the flaming village over the cliff.   
  
"Problems?" She raised a sarcastic eyebrow, her voice reaching a notch. "Like you?"  
  
His lips jerked. "Whenever you speak, it really has to bite,"  
  
" You're affected. Why, is it true?"  
  
"I REALLY wish I can kill you."   
  
"You WISH." she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "But yes, why don't you?"  
  
"You are really not a human girl...Too complicated to put you there." He replied as he threw her the soft-cotton robe that he had acquired earlier in the roasting village. "You act as if you are not in the proper age for a child..."  
  
"In another terms, I'm not weak?"  
  
"Yes, but not strong enough."  
  
Her nerves twitched involuntarily in restraint nuisance. "I can be stronger than you think..."  
  
"You are really strange, chibi..." He told her as he tilted his face as he intently looked at her with awe.   
  
"You're strange too." she retorted with an aggravated glare. "So we're even"  
  
He chortled amiably, gazing at her with unknown respect to the child who can keep up with his cynical remarks. She was so animated, and yet so dignified. It would be a shame to have her brilliant soul be wasted and eradicated. He need that kind of spirit...  
  
He need to teach the basics.  
  
"Can you summon spirits?"  
  
Then for the first time, her attention was attuned to him. Her blank face was now slowly filling with curious interest. She shook her head, implying her being unaware in that aspect. He flashed an engaging smile, one that she could not help but break her defenses down.   
  
Returning with a heartfelt smile of her own.  
  
He hastily drew away his gaze from her, as soon as he can feel the encompassing warmth that radiates to his face. The world begun to revolve slowly around her, wafting away in the glow of her.   
  
"This is how you summon a leaf...."Suddenly a withered one floated, the hazy resemblance of a minute soul begun to come into sight.   
~  
It was the most bizarre thing for a future Shaman King would induce...  
  
Yes, it was almost half a year when he had met the girl. She was slowly becoming familiar to him as she was taught slowly to be accustomed to the wandering spirits that she would see, gaining them to her side. He felt so enlightened whenever she will react, firmly or negatively, to him. As if he had never been lonely before. It was such an experience that he would always want to linger with. It might be a little bit conflicting to know the reason why he did managed to rescue the child from her assaulters from those past months....  
  
But he did not care, for there was no need for a logical explanation when you are playing with someone.   
  
"...49, 50! Ready or not, I'm going to get you!" His voice resounded throughout the resilient foliage, the huge gleaming moon overlooking the children.   
  
A petty game, might be absolutely foolish. For it is -his- specialty, including the fact that he was a thousand year old spirit disguised in a body of an eight-year old child. This was easy, even he was blindfolded, gagged and somersaulted throughout the air, he can find her just as he clicked a finger. Yet, like the ways of a miracle, he conceded not to cheat, meaning using his shamanic abilities. Which was the setback, for he was always the one to find the girl.   
  
And damn, she was really good at it.   
  
It was either upon behind a humongous boulder, near the river bank or even behind a cave. He did not utilize any furyoku-reading, nor chi-detecting. The little tyke made sure that he was true to his word with such a deathly scowl, promising endangerment to his primary years. He cannot really seem to grasp the small amount of dread that his chest would violently leap in every inhumane manner...  
  
The night was void of tiny white pinpricks, as he searched her in each possible holes that were found beneath the huge gaps of the massive trees. The hours dragged by slowly, his impatience practically slimming. It had his mind troubled, as his notions seems to be disorganized by the mere worry that he felt. If he managed to get his hands on that kid, he will make sure that she will suffer in her turn in finding him.   
  
Okay, not too hard.   
  
Yet it had arrived to the point that he was considering to cheat now. Not out of winning this useless game, but assuring himself that the child was still safe and sound. Knowing the child, she can get in different types of quandaries.  
  
Death by her hands or her own well-being? 

The little child can figure out if he was going to utilize his abilities...   
  
He cursed the emphatic abilities. Whoever said that it was worth to die for has absolutely no idea....  
  
There was a slightly resonating crack beyond his head...  
  
Then he began to wonder why did the huge tree that over towering him was slightly swaying...  
  
With a sigh, he stared into the branches...  
  
And found her gripping hard upon the twig with nervous fingers. She was glancing below him as she resided in the junction of the branches.  
  
"How in the world did you get there?" he breathed unconsciously, as she still glared dangerously at him.   
  
"You cheated!" She bellowed in resentment.  
  
Children should be banned from this when entertaining themselves.  
  
"I did not!"   
  
"Yes, you did! You were thinking to use it."  
  
"It's not counted!"  
  
"Yes it is!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I said so."  
  
This definitely one of his ridiculous exchange of banters. And he was enjoying it.  
  
She was beyond that tree branch, leaning slightly to commence their silly quarrel. The wind was becoming potent, the large stem lining across the trunk began to create a slight creak. It was gradually bending, as cracking sounds of breaking was starting. "H-huh?" she stammered as the wood was tweaking into a peculiar angle. With her position in an awful situation and the intense crash that would be produced from the approximate distance of her fall, there was nothing could prevent her to plunging....  
  
And it gave way.  
  
Within a split second, everything had happened.  
  
He dashed madly towards her, almost roaring out the word. "SPIRIT OF FIRE!"  
  
The colossal spirit, stretched out his palm below the plummeting child, its frightening velocity was enough to make him witless. The girl merely held her head in one trembling hand, after she landed hardly upon its surface,  
  
"What do you think you were doing going up there?" He thundered, his eyes flickering in anxiety as she was lowered down silently. He roughly held her shoulders as soon as she had touched upon the level-ground. His forehead furrowed anxiously, as they sat upon the ground with his neat hair tousled up in opposite directions. He was kneeling beside her sitting form.   
  
"I was hiding, baka." She trembled. But there was no trace of panic upon her face, except for the sharp beats inside her.  
  
"And nearly killing yourself." He interjected, with his eyes flickering further. "Really, you give me enough worries to make my heart stop..."  
  
She blinked abruptly, when the speckles of orb-like light began to hover above their heads. They illuminated the darkness in the middle of the unfathomable forest, glimmering splendidly as its subtle light adorned the starless horizons.  
  
She took a deep intake of breath, gaping at the silent fall of the spherical luminosity. "Nani kore?"  
  
"Nymphs." He tagged along the line of her gaze. They also belong to the leaf class, but much more powerful." Then he fixed his eyes upon her enthralled facade. "They usually don't appear at this month..."  
  
"Hai." She absently answered as she stared at each marvelous display of the creatures. The undertones of the winds brushed softly against her golden tendrils, her ivory face etched in such a wistful appearance. It was a unforgettable apparition of her, the gentle glow had created a subtle halo around her. It was like she was the nymph itself, absorbed in that sweet upturn of her lips and that immeasurable emotions swirling beneath her obscure eyes.  
  
"Can I touch them?" It was hoping and sincere.  
  
"You might burn yourself..." He sighed as he leaned his skull over his crossed fingers, resting upon a large gaping root. "They are beautiful but untouchable..."   
  
_Like you.  
_  
"Why?" She rubbed her eyes, fighting the unvoiced need for sleep.   
  
"Sometimes, it has to be like that." He consented as his thoughts grew dimmer at each passing moment. He was falling for the girl, and he have to do something. It has nothing to include about that he was confined within the walls of his right age, but the fact that how can she manage to break within his defenses without any effort at all. He could not risk it again. He did not accomplish his mission in his past lives because he allowed himself to be converged in such deluding emotions. It made him weak, destroying him without any warning. He has the every desire to build Ethiopia for her unblemished spirit. No matter how tainted the world would paint her in, she will remain as pristine and pure as she was birthed out of life.   
  
However, he cannot do it if she will continue to linger by his side. He can protect her and do anything to do so. but he cannot always provide the right thing for her. There was within him the sentiments to hold her back, to give what is due to her. To make her more suitable for the what is destined for them...  
  
He must leave her.   
  
Because he have to make a choice, to break or to build...he would rather start to annihilate these affections than forsake the vision he had made.  
  
The stump of twigs nearby them and it began to spark with a rough flame. It began to dance its graceful movements, as each flame wavered unsteadily. "Sleepy?"   
  
"No." She stretched her exhausted limbs and yawned, leaning beside him upon the tree trunk.  
  
"You're not a good liar." he unlatched his mantle, and threw it to her in a suave motion.  
  
"I don't want to miss the nymphs." She retorted with a disdainful glare at him, stroking the cloak as she covered herself around it.   
  
"Me either." He meant more to what he said.   
  
She supported her head upon the small crook of his shoulder, as the smoldering flares silently blazed on. Her heavy drooping lids began to close slowly...  
  
"Anna?" He breathed out  
  
"What?" She inquired with a confused expression, the creases alighted by the gradual disappearance of the glow of each nymph.  
  
"Oyasumi." It was breaking, shattering. Leaning against her golden fleeces, he placed a hand over her head.  
  
"'yasumi..." she began to falter, not aware that the warmth that his palm emanates was slowly burning down her memories.  
  
_I have the every right to protect you...in different ways, even if it means this.   
_  
~_  
I do not know why, but whenever the whirling autumn winds would dance graciously, my memories would wander away aimlessly. Seemingly helpless at pushing myself to stop it, I would drift and reminisce...  
  
Imagine when each tiny ginger-colored leaf would fall upon the ground, a new life might born out of it. An endless cycle of the earth. No one would appreciate it, for how could such a small harmless thing change everything?  
  
But I took the time to look and found out that I was wrong doing so...  
  
I might be looking like a fool talking to you such nonsense, but at least I would have the last effort to tell you so. I do not have the courage, because I know how deep your feelings run for him...   
  
Yet no one knew how much my emotions run for you...  
  
--so much that if I try to delve in further, I could have given up from this madly driven goals of mine. Forget and try to build it all up again, saving all what could have been left--   
  
But I guess you would never understand  
  
It was a new sunrise for the gloomy Ozorezan mountains, its languid humid atmosphere covering its lofty ridges.   
  
Beyond its ancient gates was a child, with its glossy blonde strands scattered by white linen cloth spread over her.   
  
A group of elderly women gasped at the sight of such a exquisite child, her deep slumber was so beckoning and attracting.  
  
Some of them called upon the elder while the others took her into their arms as she was softly mumbling   
  
In the shadows, I gazed at that tranquil face.   
  
If many had thought that I was incapable of feeling anything, then why did I felt such pain?  
  
If I resolved of letting her go, then why I had the urge to get her back?  
  
You have to get stronger, because if not, then you might die in my hands.  
  
And I would -never- let that happen.  
  
After all, I'm building a world that's big enough for the two of us... _

* * *

This was made during the long hours in school, painstakingly thinking in worry how could I enter the _Inked_ contest...I hope you will enjoy, particularly to my Ates (_Ate syaotot [happy belated b-day!] and Ate apple)_, my bratty sister who had not read it because I was having problems at school & to those who continue to support this pairings, especially who had reviewed me in the past fics I made....*bows head in reverence*

Review please, I will appreciate it very much! 


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